Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle): Nelson, Eldon Lane INSTITUTIONAL SETTING AND GENERAL PLAN DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTITUTION Origin and development of the institution Located on the Texas-Mexico border at the southern tip of the state, the newest component of the University of Texas System, The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) and the oldest accredited public junior college in Texas, Texas Southmost College (TSC), have formed an innovative partnership (UTB/TSC) to meet the special educational needs of the region. This new "partnership" institution, created in 1991 by special state legislation and designated a "consolidated entity" by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), offers students the combined instructional, administrative, and support services of a comprehensive community college and an upper division and graduate university. Although the two institutions retain separate legal status along with separate funding sources and fee structures, UTB/TSC functions as one institution to maximize resources and offer combined educational programs as a single seamless curriculum. UTB/TSC is one school and is accredited as one institution. In the fall of 2002, the student enrollment at UTB/TSC totaled 9,974 of which 93% of the students qualified as minority members (1). UTB/TSC is internally composed of five schools: the College of Science, Mathematics and Technology (CSMT), the College of Liberal Arts, the School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Health Sciences. Presently, CSMT offers ten certificate programs, four associate degree programs, six bachelor degree programs, and one Master of Science degree program. Within CSMT resides the RISE participating department (Biology). The average (fall/spring) enrollment for this one department nears 1,800 students per semester. Currently, a Bachelor of Science degree is being offered in Biology. A Master of Science Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Biology is also currently offered, and a Master of Science Degree in Biology has been developed and is pending UT System approval. UTB/TSC's innovative purpose and structure have been responsive to the educational challenges of the Rio Grande Valley. UTB/TSC operates with an open- admissions policy that enables it to provide a wide range of educational options to low-income, minority students, many of whom are first-generation college students. Our region is a largely Hispanic, an economically poor, and a relatively uneducated population. According the 2000 U.S. Census, the city of Brownsville's official population totaled 139,722 people. From 1990 - 2000, Brownsville was the third fastest growing city in the state of Texas at 41.2% and is projected to continue to grow at a phenomenal rate. Nevertheless, Brownsville was also listed as the poorest city in the U.S.A. amongst all cities with 100,000 or more populations. Coupled with the local economic situation, only 13.4% of our residents hold college degrees as compared to a national average of 24.4%. Only 55% of the population 25 years and older have even graduated from high school (2). The challenges of our area are great and the resources are sparse. Nevertheless, UTB/TSC believes that the strength of our region and our nation as well as our economy will triumph through education. Scholarly Activity Table 1 (page 78) summarizes and reveals the scholarly activity in terms of publications and grant applications made by and awarded to, the faculty of the participating department (Biology). The publication and grant success for this department's small faculty has been somewhat successful over the past few years, even though the focus of the institution has not been to research. Table 2 (page 78) more specifically identifies the research and scholarly activities over the last year (2002/03) of those faculty included as MBRS RISE Faculty in this grant proposal (Dr. Luis Colom, Dr. Yaima Garrido, Dr. Daniele Provenzano, Dr. Gerson Peltz, and Dr. Massoud Zarei). These five, relatively new (all hired within the past two years) faculty members have initiated a UTB/TSC publication and grant base upon which to enhance the professional productivity of our biomedical program. Colom, Peltz, and Zarei currently have grants awarded to UTB/TSC. UTB/TSC Demographic Information: PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 05/01) Page .5 ] __ Continuation Format Page PrincipInavelstigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle): Nelson, Eldon Lane Distribution of Students Table 3 (page 78) illustrates the overall student enrollments at UTB/TSC over the past four years. Of the 9,974 students enrolled in 2002, 93% are predominately Hispanic minority students and 91% of UTB/TSC graduate students enrolled are classified as Hispanic. Table 4 (page 78) shows that during the Fall 2002 semester, there were a total of 116 Biology majors of which 90% are classified as minority members; 89% are Hispanic. Distribution of Faculty Parallel to the growth in the student population, the minority faculty members at UTB/TSC have increased. Nearly 55% of our faculty are minority members, 49% are Hispanic (Table 5 page 78). Of those minority faculty members, 36%, are tenured which places UTB/TSC as one of the top most Hispanic institutions in Texas as rated by the Texas Higher Education Hispanic Report Card (3). Research activities at UTB/TSC: During the past four years, faculty members, particularly in CSMT, have initiated scientific research activity in the biology and physics departments. Current biomedical research and study is being conducted principally in Biology (funding through NIH and American Heart Association). The biology department includes a large percentage of minority faculty (Table 6 page 79) and has produced a small but significant amount of publications and grants applications as described earlier in Table 1. Currently, four of the biology department faculty have biomedical research experience: Luis V. Colom in neurosciences, Gerson Peltz in cancer studies and nutrition, Daniele Provenzano in Microbial Pathogenesis, Molecular Biology of Prokaryotes, and Applied Genomics, Masoud Zarei in cardiovascular studies. Yaima Garrido also in neurosciences will also join UTB/TSC in Fall 2003. UTB/TSC's Commitment The Institution's Commitment to the Hiring of Underrepresented Minority Faculty In the May 6, 2002 edition of Hispanic Outlook (4), UTB was listed with the highest percentage of Hispanic faculty of any university in the nation at 37.9% (These figures did not include community colleges, therefore did not include our community college faculty that would have increased the UTB/TSC percentage to approximately 48% Hispanic). The January 2003 report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (3) listed UTB and TSC as among the two highest rated two-year and four-year institutions in the State with regard to number of Hispanic faculty, percentage of full-time Hispanic faculty, the number of Hispanic students, the percentage of Hispanic students, the ratio comparison of Hispanic faculty to Hispanic students, and the number and percentage of degrees awarded to Hispanics. A primary objective for UTB/TSC is to promote and facilitate faculty development in research. The high percentage of Hispanic faculty in the institution as a whole and in the participating departments stands as evidence of the institution's commitment to hiring of underrepresented minority faculty (see Tables 5 and 6 pages 78-79). Although new to biomedical research, UTB/TSC is strongly committed to hiring a cadre of scholars who can enhance the curriculum and the research infrastructure of the institution. UTB/TSC requires that the faculty be engaged continually in its own development or improvement, and believes that growth is mandatory for faculty, as well as students. It recognizes, also, its responsibility, not only to require that the faculty advance professionally, but to also facilitate such advancement. This young university's objective, in this regard, is to promote and facilitate faculty development in teaching, research or scholarship, and service. The standard set, as articulated clearly in its policies on merit, promotion and tenure, is that faculty attain a high level of achievement in teaching, research/scholarship, and service to the professions, as well as to the university and the community. The university is dedicated to increase faculty/student minority representation in the fields of medicine and biomedical research. Institution Commitment to the Training of Underrepresented Minority Students UTB/TSC places particular emphasis on integrating appropriate resources from its graduate, research, and service programs into its undergraduate curriculum, in order to enhance student educational experiences and PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 05/01) Page 52 Continuation Format Page Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle): Nelson, Eldon Lane to motivate students to pursue programs of service. The university is committed to serving the professional communities represented by its academic programs, while also assisting local government, local businesses, and community groups in addressing the problems of the region. Special attention is given to in-service training for public school teachers and enrichment programs and counseling services for students who would not otherwise have an opportunity for pursuing college study. The "open-admissions" policy of the institution provides opportunities for those that "competitive entrance" would deny. The institution is supported by a major grant from the U. S. Department of Education - Title V - Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions Program which has as its major thrust, increasing retention through improving academic programs, especially for students in developmental and gatekeeper courses within an integrated program of faculty development and student support services. Through this program, 60 faculty have been given training in research based learning theory and methodologies, learning styles, ESL methodologies, mentoring, retention issues, and use of technology in the classroom. Over one hundred students received peer tutor training and 4,463 student contacts were recorded in the Learning Assistance Center. The Learning Assistance Center provides students with help with tutoring in many academic subject areas, supplemental instruction programs and specific programs in reading, writing, English language skills, and mathematics. UTB/TSC also has an Academic Computing Center, a newly opened Counseling Center, a Media Center, and a Center for Career Development, which makes available career counseling, planning and placement services to students from all academic departments. Some undergraduate students have been given opportunities and support for participation in research projects through the National Science Foundation - Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (AMP), but most students do not currently have these opportunities. As a part of the AMP program, in the spring of 2001 the institution held its third annual student research day symposium in which students made presentations of their research projects. Unified Plan Currently UTB/TSC has made an application to the MBRS SCORE Program and is awaiting review. These two programs, the RISE and the SCORE will indeed complement each other and will both greatly expand our research capabilities as well as provide our students with opportunities to explore biomedical research and its related fields. If the SCORE is funded, it will provide to laboratory opportunities to graduate students. If the RISE is funded, it will provide additional laboratory opportunities to undergraduate students who may then have the opportunity to continue their experiences into the UTB/TSC SCORE program. The SCORE requests assistance to renovate our 2 nd floor facilities for research labs; whereas this RISE requests funding for renovating the first floor general laboratory into faculty/student biomedical research laboratories. Whereas, there may be some overlap of support requested between the SCORE and RISE proposals, these will be easily and fairly addressed if both proposals are successful. ANTICIPATED VALUE OF THE PROPOSED MBRS RISE PROGRAM TO THE INSTITUTION Until the last two years, UTB/TSC had seen little activity in research among its faculty. A few of the faculty made some presentations, had some publication activity in the science fields and but very little sponsored research activity. In forming this new university, most of the faculty in the sciences came from the community college (TSC) and were exclusively teachers as the teaching loads were full-time without research expectations, though scholarly writing was encouraged. In the last four years, however, the faculty has been somewhat transformed, i.e., new faculty and department chairs with research history and grant productivity were hired. This transformation was initiated within the physics department, but has since included the biological and health sciences areas with some effect (Table 1 page 78). Within the last 18 months, four faculty members active in biomedical research have been added to the Biology Department faculty. UTB/TSC faculty in the sciences have since obtained grant support form public and private agencies and foundations including: The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, NASA, the American Heart Association, the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, the Welch Foundation and Kellogg Foundation. Additionally, the UTHSC-Houston School of Public Health has opened a branch on the PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 05/01) Page 53 Continuation Format Page